Exploring, eating and writing about good food on Canada's west coast

Blog posts
: "seasonal"

Tis' the season to find that perfect gift for the people who make your life brighter (and cook you dinner). If you're struggling to find something special for the home chefs on your Christmas shopping list, here are some tasty ideas to get you started.

This weekend my foodie friends and I celebrated our 4th annual Pie Party, and it was a feast. Twenty two different sweet and savoury pies, cobblers and crumbles of every imaginable flavour. We ate like kings, then judged and voted for our favourites.

Having lived in Saskatchewan for fourteen years before moving to Vancouver Island, I've watched the humble and uber-healthy Canadian Lentil go from being an under-used pulse crop to a rising star appearing on top restaurant's menus and re-popularizing classic international lentil recipes that show…

Trying to cook seasonally in the winter is a lot more difficult than the summer, obviously. My backyard kitchen garden is still sleeping, except for a few brave green kale and swiss chard plants that have continued to put out new leaves all winter through snow and frost.

I was cooking steaks in the oven after searing them in a frying pan, I took the pan out with my oven mitt, turned around to open a bottle of wine to de-glaze the pan, then turned back around and grabbed the damn handle with my bare h…

Popping up in gardens, grocery stores and farmer's markets, rhubarb is suddenly everywhere. When I see it I automatically think 'Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie', but local strawberries aren't quite ready to go yet so rhubarb hasn't really been on my rad…

As someone who is trying to learn how to cook everything (one thing at a time), when someone offers me access to extra homegrown fruits and vegetables, I'm in heaven. When my friend called me and said "Want to come and pick the rest of my backyard apples, there's too many!" I was there, with a baske…